Ski boot load distributor for lower leg

ABSTRACT

A rigid member shaped to engage a substantial surface area of a person&#39;&#39;s shin is positionable between the person&#39;&#39;s shin and the front surrounding rigid leg portion of a ski boot, there being provided a bearing or fulcrum point between the member and the inside portion of the rigid leg portion of the ski boot. The arrangement permits tilting of the member about the fulcrum point to follow the tilting of a person&#39;&#39;s shin when leaning forward or rearwardly and distributes forces concentrated at the fulcrum point over a large area of the person&#39;&#39;s shin thereby avoiding point contact of the upper rigid portion of the boot with the person&#39;&#39;s shin and resulting pain and risk of injury.

with 11 l Hutchinson Dec. 24, 1974 SKI BOOT LOAD DISTRIBUTOR FOR Primary Examiner-Patrick D. Lawson LOWER LEG Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Pastoriza & Kelly [76] Inventor: Harold D. Hutchinson, 26734 W.

Latigo Shore Dr., Malibu, Calif. 57 ABSTRACT 902265 A rigid member shaped to engage a substantial surface Flledi 21, 1974 area of a persons shin is positionable between the per- [21] APPL N05 444,461 sons shin and the front surrounding rigid leg portion of a Skl boot, there being provided a bearing or fulcrum point between the member and the inside por- U-S- Cl. {ion of the leg portion of the boot The at- [5 int. Cl. angement permits of the member about the fu]- [58] Field of Search 36/2.5 R, 2.5 AL crum int to follow the tilting of a persons shin when leaning forward or rearwardly and distributes forces References Cited concentrated at the fulcrum point over a large area of UNITED STATES PATENTS the persons shin thereby avoiding point contact of the 3,561,139 2 1971 Stillman 36/25 AL upper rigid Portion of the boot with the p Shin 3,710,484 1/1973 Heitzinger 36/2.5 AL and resulting p and risk Of j y- 3,793,749 2/1974 Gertsch et al. 36/2.5 AL

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures Pmmwnmwm FIG.1A

FIGZA I SKI BOOT LOAD DISTRIBUTOR FOR LOWER LEG This invention relates generally to ski boots and more particularly to an improved shin protector member insertable within a ski boot or alternatively formed in combination with the ski boot during manufacture.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION I Substantial advances have been made over the last few years in the design and construction of ski boots. Essentially, the basic concept involved is to try to design a boot in such a manner that the persons leg becomes in essence an integral extension of the ski itself. By providing such a rigid arrangement, the skier need not rely on his ankle muscles but rather on his entire leg from the waist down to provide proper control of the skis themselves.

In line with the foregoing design philosophy, present day ski boots usually incorporate in addition to the foot portion of the boot a rigid cylindrical leg portion surrounding the skiers leg and shin area to provide the referred-to support. These rigid cylindrical upper shells are usually formed from plastic. However, it is still desirable to provide some flexibility between the rigid upper surrounding shell and the foot portion of the boot particularly in a fore and aft direction since the skiers upper leg portion will execute tilting or forward angular movements as well as rearward angular movements in executing various ski maneuvers. Available boots come in three basic designs to accomplish this coupling between the rigid cylindrical leg shell and the foot portion of the boot. A first type merely relies on a material connecting the upper rigid sheel with the foot portion which can flex. The second type includes hinge points actually hinging the upper rigid shell to the lower boot portion so that it can move fore and aft. In this respect, some of the more sophisticated types of boots include spring members to bias the cylindrical shell in a normal position relative to the foot portion. The third type contemplates a cantilevered beam extending up the rear portion of the boot and simply cantilevering the cylindrical rigid portion so that it can flex forwardly in the manner of a bending beam.

Regardless of which of the above three types of boots are involved, all suffer from a serious problem; to wit, an essentially point contact between the upper front edge of the rigid cylindrical shell surrounding the leg portion and the persons shin bone. Thus, when a persons leg is tilted forward, as when he leans forward on the skis, a point contact takes place between this upper front portion of the rigid shell and his shin applying substantial forces at this point. While a large amount of foam padding is used in an attempt to alleviate this pressure, under arduous skiing conditions, the problem still has not been sufficiently solved. As a consequence, after a few hours of skiing with the newer type boots incorporating rigid cylindrical upper leg portions, a skiers shins can become quite sore and painful. Moreover, there is substantial risk of shattering the shin bone in the event of an accident because of the concentration of the force exerted by this upper front portion of the rigid shell at substantially a single point of the shin bone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION With the foregoing considerations in mind, the present invention contemplates a ski boot shin protector which in essence overcomes the problem of point contact or force concentration against a persons shin by a rigid surrounding cylindrical shell.

More particularly, in accord with the present invention there is provided a vertically elongated rigid member shaped to engage a substantial surface area of a persons shin. This member may be formed in combination with a ski boot or designed to be inserted in an available ski boot. In either event, there is included a bearing means between a front portion of the member intermediate its upper and lower ends, and an upper rigid portion of the ski boot such as the front inside portion of the cylindrical shell surrounding the upper leg, such that the member effectively follows the angular movements of the persons shin relative to the rigid portion of the ski boot to thereby distribute forces acting against the bearing means by the rigid portion over the surface area engaging the personshin.

Essentially, the bearing means defines a fulcrum point permitting tilting of the member relative to the outer rigid shell of the ski boot so that concentrated forces resulting from forward leaning of the persons leg in the ski boot are distributed over a wide area on the front of a persons shin thus greatly increasing his comfort and additionally contributing substantially to the skiers safety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A better understanding of the invention will be had by referring to the accmpanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross section of a conventional prior art ski boot useful in illustrating problems associated therewith while FIG. 1a schematically depicts the concentration of forces therein;

FIG. 2 is a cross section of a ski boot incorporating a shin protector in accord with the present invention while FIG. 2a schematically depicts the distribution of forces therein;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the shin protector of FIG. 2 in exploded relationship to other components of the ski boot; and,

FIG. 4- is an enlarged cross section of the bearing structure when the components shown in FIG. 3 are in assembled relationship.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a typical prior art ski boot 10 which includes a foot portion 11 and a rigid cylindrical leg portion 12 usually fabricated from hard plastic. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the upper rigid cylindrical portion or shell 12 can flex forwardly to a dotted line position such as indicated at 12 when a persons shin portion tilts forwardly. This forward movement of the persons leg is indicated by the arrow 13 and it will be noted that the front shin portion 14 engages against the upper front rigid portion of the shell 12. As the engagement force increases, it becomes more concentrated at a point against the persons shin as indicated by the arrows at F in both FIGS. 1 and 1a.

While the foregoing concentration of pressure can be alleviated somewhat by the provision of foam padding such as indicated at 15, between the front of the persons shin 14 and the front inside portion of the cylindrical shell 12, compression of this foam material results in still a substantial concentration of force at point F. Normally, the movement of the persons leg is in a forward direction to a greater extent than a rearward direction relative to the normal position of the surrounding rigid shell 12. Nevertheless, foam such as 16 is also provided between the rear portion of the shell and the rear of the persons leg.

It can be appreciated that as a consequence of the concentration of the force as described in FIG. 1, a persons shin will become quite sore after a few hours of skiing. Moreover, in the event of a sudden snapping forward of the persons leg or a sudden upturn of the skis themselves, the concentrated force can readily fracture the persons shin bone at the concentrated point of engagement.

Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown another ski boot 17 incorporating the present invention. As shown, this boot includes a foot portion 18 and a surrounding rigid cylindrical portion 19 in the form of a shell similar to the shell 12 of FIG. 1. In the construction of FIG. 2, this upper rigid shell is shown cantilevered as by a metal beam 20 secured to the rear portion of the shell and the lower foot portion of the boot. Tilting forward movement of the rigid shell can thus take place as a consequence of the cantilevered arrangement. In the boot of FIG. 1 such forward movement took place by a mere flexing of the entire rigid shell relative to the foot portion. In either type of boot construction, the present invention can readily be used.

In accord with the invention, there is provided a vertically elongated rigid member 21 transversely curved and tapering in width in a downward direction to conform to the front of a persons shin and thereby engage the same over a substantial surface area. If desired, a foam padding 22 may be incorporated between the member 21 and the person s shin merely to increase the comfort.

Between the front portion of the member 21 intermediate its upper and lower ends 22 and 23, and an inside front portion 24 of the rigid cylindrical shell 19 there is a bearing means 25. This bearing means defines a fulcrum point holding the front surface of the elongated member 22 spaced from the inside front portion of the rigid cylindrical shell 19 and permits a rocking or tilting movement of the shell relative to the cylindrical portion. As a consequence, forces concentrated at the fulcrum resulting from a leaning forward of a persons leg in the boot are distributed by the member 21 over the large engaging surface area thereof with the persons shin. Thus, the concentrated force at F as described in FIG. 1 is funneled through the bearing means 25 and distributed over a large area as indicated by the force arrows F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5. Pressure, or force per unit area, is thus substantially decreased and the discomfort and risks described with respect to the boot of FIG. 1 are overcome. FIG. 2a depicts the force flow.

FIG. 3 illustrates in greater detail the shin protector member 22 wherein it will be noted that the member is curved transversely and tapers in a vertically downward direction in width as indicated at T.

Also shown in FIG. 3 in exploded relationship is the front portion of the cylindrical shell 19. In the particular embodiment illustrated, the bearing means 25 takes the form of a conical element 27 arranged to cooperate with the exit of an opening 28 through the shell 19. This opening 28 as shown in FIG. 3 includes a widened entrance portion 29.

As shown, there is provided a screw 30 having an enlarged head 31 greater than the diameter of the opening 28. The screw 30 is arranged to be passed through the opening 28 and through an axial hole 32 in the conical element 27 to be threadedly received in a hole in the front portion of the member 21.

In the embodiment illustrated, there are provided a plurality of such threaded openings such as indicated at 33 and 34 thereby enabling adjustment of the vertical positions of the conical element 27 relative to the upper and lower ends 22 and 23 of the member 21.

In addition to the foregoing, the front portion of the rigid cylindrical shell 19 may include additional openings such as indicated at 35 and 36, any one of which may be selected to enable an adjustment of the position at which bearing takes place on the inside front portion of the shell.

FIG. 4 shows in enlarged cross section the bearing components described in FIG. 3 in assembled relationship wherein the bearing action will readily be understood. Thus, the screw 30 is shown threaded into a threaded hole 37 in the member 21. Further, it will be noted that the exit of the opening 29 in the shell 19 is of larger diameter than the axial hole 32 in the conical element 27 and of lesser diameter than the base diameter of the conical element. Finally, it will be noted that the enlarged head 31 essentially couples the screw 30 to the front portion of the rigid shell 19.

OPERATION In operation, and with specific reference to FIG. 4 it will be clear that fulcrum action for the member 21 takes place between the peripheral surface of the conical element 27 and the exit end of the opening 28. While the major portion of such motion will be in a fore and aft direction, the member 21 can angulate to the left or right when looking down from the top.

Essentially, when a persons leg and foot is in place in the boot, such as illustrated in FIG. 2, the plate 21 effectively becomes a part of the persons shin and will move with the persons shin. Forces transmitted by the persons leg to the boot will all be concentrated in the bearing means 25 and similarly, the reaction forces will be concentrated at this bearing point. These forces are then distributed by the plate 21 over the substantially larger area of the plate in engagement with the person s shin as described heretofore.

While a specific type of bearing means or fulcrum structure has been set forth and described, it should be appreciated that there are many other structures for accomplishing the same end. For example, the conical element 27 could be positioned on the inner front surface portion of the rigid cylindrical shell 19 and the front portion of the shin protecting member 21 provided with dimples or openings to serve as the fulcrum action area. Actually, it is only necessary that the point of fulcrum action be disposed in front of the shin intermediate the upper and lower ends of the member 21. The portion against which fulcrum action takes place can be secured at any point to the cylindrical shell 19; for example, it could even be supported from the rear of the boot or by a transverse shaft coupled to opposite side portions of the cylindrical shell.

The operation of the adjustment means will be evident from reviewing FIGS. 3 and 4 wherein it is a simple matter to change the position of the conical element 27 on the front of the member 21 by simply positioning it over an adjacent opening such as 33 or 34 prior to inserting the screw 30. Similarly, the adjustment of the culcrum action location with respect to the rigid shell 19 is readily adjusted by selecting an appropriate one of the holes such as 35 or 36.

While the present specification refers to protection of a persons shin, this term, as used herein may also encompass the entire lower leg in that the load distribution decreases the risk of bruising the shin bone itself as well as the risk of breaking the entire leg and/or straining the associated muscles and tendons.

From the foregoing description, it will be evident that the present invention has provided a simple and novel arrangement for vastly improving the characteristics of presently available ski boots, all as set forth herein.

What is claimed is:

l. In combination:

a. a ski boot including a foot portion and rigid cylin drical leg portion;

b. a vertically elongated rigid member transversely curved and tapering in width in a downward direction to conform to the front of a persons shin and thereby engage the same over a substantial surface area; and

0. bearing means between the front portion of said member intermediate its upper and lower ends, and an inside portion of said rigid cylindrical leg portion, said bearing means defining a fulcrum about which tilting of said member can take place whereby forces concentrated at said fulcrum resulting from a leaning forward of a persons leg in the boot are distributed by said member over-said surface area.

2. The combination of claim l in which said member includes means for adjusting the vertical position of said bearing means relative to the upper and lower ends of the member.

3. The combination of claim 1, in which said rigid cylindrical leg portion includes means for vertically adjusting the position of the inside portion thereof engaged by said bearing means.

4. The combination of claim 1, in which said bearing means includes a conical element having an axial hole, the front of said member including a threaded hole over which said conical element is positioned, the inside portion of said rigid cylindrical leg portion having an exit opening of diameter less than the base diameter of said conical element and greater than the axial hole passing therethrough; and a screw insertable from the outside front portion of said rigid cylindrical leg portion through said opening and said hole in said conical element to be threadedly received in said threaded hole,'said screw having an enlarged head greater in diameter than said opening whereby fulcrum action of said bearing means takes place between the peripheral surface of said conical element and the exit end of said opening. 

1. In combination: a. a ski boot including a foot portion and rigid cylindrical leg portion; b. a vertically elongated rigid member transversely curved and tapering in width in a downward direction to conform to the front of a person''s shin and thereby engage the same over a substantial surface area; and c. bearing means between the front portion of said member intermediate its upper and lower ends, and an inside portion of said rigid cylindrical leg portion, said bearing means defining a fulcrum about which tilting of said member can take place whereby forces concentrated at said fulcrum resulting from a leaning forward of a person''s leg in the boot are distributed by said member over said surface area.
 2. The combination of claim 1 in which said member includes means for adjusting the vertical position of said bearing means relative to the upper and lower ends of the member.
 3. The combination of claim 1, in which said rigid cylindrical leg portion includes means for vertically adjusting the position of the inside portion thereof engaged by said bearing means.
 4. The combination of claim 1, in which said bearing means includes a conical element having an axial hole, the front of said member including a threaded hole over which said conical element is positioned, the inside portion of said rigid cylindrical leg portion having an exit opening of diameter less than the base diameter of said conical element and greater than the axial hole passing therethrough; and a screw insertable from the outside front portion of said rigid cylindrical leg portion through said opening and said hole in said conical element to be threadedly received in said threaded hole, said screw having an enlarged head greater in diameter than said opening whereby fulcrum action of said bearing means takes place between the peripheral surface of said conical element and the exit end of said opening. 